Champions League on RMC Sport: a boon for streaming sites? 3v3kt

Published on 18/09/2018

The Champions League is back in business. This year, exit Canal+ and BeIN, the competition takes over its rights on the RMC Sport channel (formerly SFR Sport) which thus becomes the exclusive (Live) broadcaster of the Champions League for a period of three years. It was an opportunity for the Altice group to use football as a real marketing weapon and to hit the market with a huge blow. What does this new offer mean for football fans?

Canal + and BeIN: a future hemorrhage of subscribers? 5a3k70

Altice offers RMC Sport at 19 euros/month. It is a 100% digital offer including the broadcasting of the Europa League, the Champions League, the Premier League and the Liga NOS (Portuguese league). SFR subscribers benefit from a preferential rate of 9 euros.

The Canal + and BeIN Sports groups will not broadcast any European matches live and are therefore satisfied with League 1, League 2 (and the League Cup for the French group).

None of these competitions are broadcast by RMC Sport.

Summary table of digital offers offered to football fans (Credit: AFP)

If you follow all these competitions and subscribe to all these services (beIN + RMC Sport + BeIN) it costs you at least 44 euros per month.

Football fans are therefore divided between subscribing to a new subscription in addition to a subscription to BeIN and Canal +, or sacrificing one of their favourite competitions to save money.

For BeIN and Canal +, it is necessary to expect a massive flight of subscribers to RMC. The other solution for these two groups would be to reach an agreement with the Altice group to allow their s to enjoy an RMC sports package in their offers. If for Canal + and the operators Orange and Free an agreement (with no immediate effect)* is about to be reached, for BeIN it is a completely different story.

UPDATE September 19: Canal + and RMC reached an agreement on September 18. Canal + satellite subscribers can now subscribe to RMC sport for 9 euros per month.

Watch the Champions League for free: alternatives b4022

This new market breakdown will in any case impact subscribers who will be moving towards back-up solutions. What are they? What are they?

On Champions League match nights, streaming sites experience a significant increase in traffic. In the past ten years, these sites have become “professionalized” and have become real virtual advertising boards that earn their creators several tens of thousands of dollars a year. With RMC Sport coming on the market and football fans reluctant to switch from one offer to another, September promises to be a very lucrative month for these sites.

They are often adware nests and it is not uncommon for s who have accidentally clicked on an ad window to find themselves with potentially unwanted software on their PC.

Other unknown illegal viewing techniques such as Torrent Streaming or extensions of the KODI media player are also appreciated, especially because they make it possible to avoid invasive advertising.

A screenshot of Match TV, a public channel whose video streams are regularly pirated

In all three cases, the experience is not really there with a risk of infection and an enormous latency compared to the flow of the diff (between 20 seconds and 1 minute delay depending on the flows).

However, there is still an alternative that is well known to technophiles. It consists of watching matches on foreign free channel sites and applications by bying any geographical restrictions using VPN software. However, in most cases, the language barrier will have to be dealt with.

To put all this into practice, you must have in your possession:

• The Live Soccer TV application to find out which channels are in charge of broadcasting your favourite matches. Once you know the free foreign channel, go to its website or its mobile application.
• A VPN software to simulate your geographical position. If the channel is Irish, simulate your position in Ireland, if it is a Swiss channel, connect to your VPN’s Swiss server.

VPN Windscribe on PC

This last option is clearly an additional solution, but it will probably allow you to watch the games of your favorite team without selling a kidney.

Featured image from the official UEFA website